


practice

by onthighsbelongtotaemin



Category: SHINee
Genre: & i thought about dads trying to do things for their kids, & this came out of it, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Makeup, Pregnancy, Trans Character, also, poor minho, so i bought one of those eyeshadow compacts & it was a nightmare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 13:43:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10787835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onthighsbelongtotaemin/pseuds/onthighsbelongtotaemin
Summary: “so why the makeover?”“just trying to be prepared,” jinki replied, looking down at his cache.  “in case it’s something they like.  i want to be able to help them so that they don’t have to go through the struggle of figuring it out on their own.”  he looked back up.  “the struggle is real, taem.  the struggle is real.”





	practice

jinki pursed his rosy-red lips as he squinted down at the compact in his hand in confusion.

“brow bone.  brow bone, brow bone.  what is a brow bone?”  

glancing up at the mirror he frowned, trying to figure out what the instructions were instructing him to do.

he reached up with the hand holding the little spongey brush & poked around his eyelid: the sudden resistance just beneath his eyebrow startled him.  

working on what he hoped was logic, jinki took the tiny foam brush & swiped it through the champagne colored powder.  leaning in, he applied even strokes across every inch of skin exposed between his lashes & eyebrows, amazed to see how different his eye looked with just the base color.

peering at his reflection, he decided that the result was not appealing & he began to wonder if it was really worth all the effort.  the lipstick had been so much easier.

the bang of the front door momentarily broke his concentration & he instinctively yelled “keys!” before moving away from the mirror & looking down to read the instructions for the next color.

“eyelid.  that i can do.”

there was a faint click of keys being tossed into the wooden bowl by the door followed by two heavy thumps of a pair of boots dropping to the floor.

taemin’s soft footsteps padded up the hallway as jinki leaned in to apply the next color.

“hey.”

“hey.”  taemin leaned up against the doorway, arms crossed.  the v-neck with the textured pattern jinki liked to run his fingers over sat loosely tucked into the ripped jeans he’d recently stolen.

“how was practice?”

“dull.  only half the kids showed up.  spring break.”  jinki nodded absently as he moved on to the third color.

“crease.”

“what are you doing?”

“trying to figure out where my crease is.”

“what?”  jinki looked up & held out the compact in his hand.  “it says ‘crease’.”  taemin took the little plastic box, flipping it over & back again.

“no instructions?”

“not on the box, no.  this little pamphlet,” he grabbed up the tiny plastic page with even tinier print, “tells you how to do it.”

“hmm.”  taemin looked as confused as jinki.  “i think it’s supposed to go here,” he said, finger grazing over the outer edge of jinki’s eye.  “don’t most people add their eye liner there?”

“ok.”  the brush dipped into a new color & he stared intently at his reflection as he swept it over where his boyfriend suggested.  

not bad.

“you look pretty.”  jinki chuckled as he glanced over at taemin.

“do i?”

“yes.  pretty boy.” he leaned in & jinki happily accepted the gentle kiss that swept across his lips, laughing when he saw that the rose-colored lipstick had transferred to taemin’s mouth.

“now you look pretty too,” he said, pointing.  taemin just rolled his eyes.

“i’m always pretty.”  he tilted his chin at the array of cosmetics scattered across the counter.  “so why the makeover?”

“just trying to be prepared,” jinki replied, looking down at his cache.  “in case it’s something they like.  i want to be able to help them so that they don’t have to go through the struggle of figuring it out on their own.”  he looked back up.  “the struggle is real, taem.  the struggle is real.”  taemin snorted & kissed jinki’s forehead before moving back to lean again against the doorframe.

“most dads wouldn’t do this.”

“i’m not most dads,” jinki answered with a smirk.

“true.  but even those dads who aren’t most dads wouldn’t start practicing how to put on make-up when they’re only at twenty-eight weeks.”  jinki’s hand moved instinctively to his baby bump & he blushed: he knew he was going a little overboard.  

“i’m just so nervous.  i want to be a good dad.”  taemin tilted his head with a bemused smile.

“you’ll be great.”

“will i?”

“absolutely. look,” he said, stepping back into the room & wrapping his arms around the top of jinki’s swollen waist, head propped up on his shoulder.  “this is going to be the most awful, wonderful, terrifying, magical, perfect thing we’ll ever do.”

“what if i screw it up?”

“oh you definitely will.”  he laughed as jinki frowned.  “& so will i.  we’ll mess up but we’ll do our best.  we’ll listen & we’ll ask questions.  give them lots of hugs if they want them & none when they don’t.  we’ll love them & let them know & that’ll be enough.”  a smile fluttered across jinki’s lips.  he turned his head to kiss taemin’s cheek, palms raising up to rest against the ones above his tummy.

“how did you get to be so wise?”

“minho.  when i went over this morning to return the dish they left last week he began giving me fatherly advice.”  jinki nodded in understanding.  “while he poured junghee’s breast milk into his coffee.” jinki’s eyes grew wide & laughter burst through his lips as he nearly fell over, kept up on his feet only by his boyfriend’s strong hold.

“& you let him?!”

“he had a floppy human strapped to his chest.  he needed that coffee.”

“did you tell him?”

“no,” taemin replied with a sly grin, “i figured that wasn’t the first time he’d swallowed.”  the obscene wiggling of his brow was met with a slap to his hands & he chuckled at jinki’s faux indignation.

“you’re so awful.”  he hummed at the kiss to his cheek & nodded when taemin said he was going to go get something to eat.

“do you want anything?”

“could you make me a cheese & pickle sandwich?”

“mustard?”

“yes.”

the sound of taemin’s footsteps faded into the soft clatter of plates on the counter & the hum of the refrigerator opening.

jinki turned back to his reflection in the mirror, one eye colored in shades of violet, the other bare, & a lipstick that had turned out better than he expected.  the compact was picked up again & the fourth color applied.  next was one of a pale pink blush that he brushed over the apple of one cheek & the hollow of the other, deciding the apple suited him best. & that he was hungry.

he grabbed a towelette from the little package that gwiboon had given him & wiped all the make-up back off.  then he gathered up all the little bottles, tubes, & compacts, & slipped them into a green cosmetics bag that he then tucked into his drawer.

once done, he looked up again at his reflection in the mirror, hands moving up to rub at the belly that had begun to finally show last month.

“hey.  maybe you’ll never want to use this stuff but maybe some of your friends will.  either way, it’s always good to be curious & learn new things.  just know that i love you, ok?  daddy loves you.”  

the light flicked off behind him as he stepped out into the hall, turning towards the kitchen, & laughing when he found that his sandwich had been cut into fourths.  

“practice,” taemin offered with a smile, & jinki kissed his cheek in thanks.


End file.
